Category Archive
‘Kiddie cars’: 38 Posts

In the pantheon of children’s electric cars, the Bugatti factory Bebe “T52s” are, as Rutger Booy called them, “the ultimate children’s status symbol.” But surely, a Michelotti-designed, 375MM-inspired Ferrari would place highly as well.

It doesn’t look as though anyone has yet written the history of Turinese company S.I.L.A., but their Bimbo Racer V12s were built in the Fifties and imported into America by a company called Ferrari, Inc., of South San Francisco. A 12-volt car battery in the trunk provided power, and it appears that early cars used friction drive, then soon switched to chain drive. Nicely finished and trimmed; a top speed of 5-7 MPH was claimed with up to a 30-mile range. There was a built-in charger, and the body was fiberglass over steel.

It’s not clear how many were built but there seem to be a fair number of survivors, and as kid’s cars become more popular restoration subjects, more project cars are emerging. Fully completed ones are still rare, though, with not more than one or two Bimboracers (hey, that’s what it says on the dash) for sale in the English-speaking world, either at auction or in Ferrari forums.

Thus, Brighton Motorsports in Scottsdale says the one they have advertised in Hemmings for $16,000 is the only restored Bimbo on the market, even if they do call it a “Bambino,” which is isn’t. Suitable for the under-seven crowd, I doubt the Yankees slugger, even in his prime, would have fit. I do hope someone is brave enough to take it off the display stand and put it under the tree.

And if you’ve been a very, very good little boy or girl this year, Ferrari won’t sue you and crush the car.

* Thanks to Keith on the Crosley Gang mailing list for forwarding this story along: The Crosley fire truck that once ferried kids around Kiddieland at Eldridge Park in Elmira, New York, has been restored and returned to the park, though now as part of a permanent display.

* And finally, David Greenlees over at The Old Motor took some time out from posting excellent photos of old cars to detail how he machines flywheels for some of the cars he restores, allowing them to use electric starters.

I sent this over to ace dadblogger and Citroën owner/car nut Greg Allen recently, but I can’t get it out of my head. Is it just me, or is this perhaps the best scaled-down design ever built?

Sold at Brightwells in September for 1,800 British pounds (US$2,811.17 wow, strong pound), their sparse description says that it was custom-built in 1956 by a 507 owner for his two sons to use. Clearly, these folks were not on the dole, as the boys had a mile of private drive on a Suffolk estate. Construction is fiberglass over steel tubing with Briggs & Stratton power.

But to me, the thing that makes it beautiful is not how it’s like a BMW 507, but how it isn’t. The builder – artist – was clearly far more familiar with XK120s than 507s, and I can feel the influences of several other British sports cars that I can’t quite put my finger on. Really, the only thing BMW about it is the grille, itself no more than a suggestion. The German car had nothing like those sweeping rear fenders, which to my eye echo the top profile of an Austin-Healey 100, but with an XK trailing edge.

For comparison, this is a 1954 Austin Healey (100M).

It appears the engine is in the rear; from a design standpoint this necessitates a high bustle, but that was a distinguishing feature of British sports cars of the Fifties anyway, so it would likely have been there regardless. What isn’t traditional is the extremely long and low, almost Italianate hood and front end. For a kid’s car, this is a huge practical advantage as well. Short drivers would be able to see over it much better, but it kept the tall fenders, better to point your way and denote the corners of the car. The big but thin bumper is a thoroughly acceptable compromise for a vehicle piloted exclusively by beginning drivers.

The grille scaling is the only thing that looks “kidlike” to me, although the headlamps could be larger. I love the completeness of the details, though – there’s a splash panel molded into the front end! A windscreen should be easy to make, although if I were restoring it I’d lose the posts. I guess the big thing sticking up from the hood is a key of sorts?

BMW’s 507 had far more in common with a sharpedged Pininfarina design, say a Ferrari 250GT, than the sweeping curves of England. Whatever this is, it’s distinctively English, and entirely beautiful. What do you see in it?

Once again, it’s football season, which means that once again, it’s time for the crazy antics of half-grown men sweating to death inside giant cartoonish mascot costumes. University of North Texas students, alums and fans will no doubt recognize Scrappy (or is it “Eppy?”) in this 1979 photo we found on UNT’s Portal to Texas History image archive. As for the car, regular readers of the blog will no doubt recognize it as a Chevy Jr, built by Rupp in the 1960s and early 1970s to emulate the 1962 Corvair Monza SS show car.

Organizers of the seventh annual Krasl Art Center Concours – scheduled for Saturday, August 13, and held on the grounds of the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, Michigan – have assembled a field of 80 vehicles and several special displays for this year’s attendees. As has been the case across the country all year long, Chevrolet will be the headliner; at least one vehicle from each of the division’s 10 decades will be on the show field. Other notable displays will be a dozen micro cars, including the 1955 Messerschmitt KR200 DeLuxe pictured above, a series of finely restored pedal cars courtesy of the Gilmore Car Museum, and several vintage motorcycles, such as the rare 1957 Aermacchi Chimera seen in the gallery below. The concours’ featured automotive designers are Virgil Exner and Virgil Exner Jr.; several of their designs will be represented.

Of the thousand and one ways to get kids involved in old cars, what better way to do so than to simply give them an old car? Don’t trust your wee ones with a full-size old car? Then perhaps a kiddie car will be enough to excite their passions until then. It worked for me – I was doing brodies in a pedal car fire engine before kindergarten, and look at me now! (Note: Upon further contemplation, maybe my parents should have cut down on my sugar intake when I was a kid.) That said, the same seller in California recently listed this pair of kiddie cars – a Jaguar XK120, and a Triumph TR5 – for sale on Hemmings.com. About the Jaguar, the seller writes:

The fields at Hershey are lousy with go-karts and mini-bikes every year, but this one in particular caught my eye last fall, with its orange fiberglass body sculptured to look like the 1962 Corvair Monza SS concept car, complete with the turbine-look wheels and concave tail panel. It even had a rear-mounted engine for maximum Corvair-ness.

As the seller described it (and as we’ve discovered on vintagekarts.com), it was a Rupp Chevy Jr, which Rupp placed on its Dart Kart chassis and initially built just for auto show giveaways under the Monza Jr name. After a couple years, the name changed to Chevy Jr, and Rupp began selling them to the public, allowing many Chevrolet dealers to purchase Chevy Jrs for their own giveaway contests. Production continued through the early 1970s, and they all appeared to have been powered with Tecumseh 3-1/2 hp engines.

The seller of this particular Chevy Jr was asking $4,900 for it. I say somebody needs to make a version of the Chevy Jr just large enough to fit and propel a six-foot adult male for me to drive around the Hemmings offices.

We’ve seen these sorts of hook-and-ladder conversions – meant primarily to ferry kids around amusement parks in the 1950s and 1960s – on Crosleys before, but this is the first one we’ve seen based on a Metro. The seller of this 1960 Metropolitan hasn’t yet included a description of it, but from the photos, we can see that it was built by Overland Amusements of Lexington, Massachusetts (which also converted Crosleys into amusement park fire trucks), and that it served the Storyland amusement park in Bushkill, Pennsylvania. Gotta wonder if Overland converted any other diminutive cars into fire trucks.

Much like the 1959 Fury Junior that we profiled back in the April 2009 issue of Hemmings Classic Car, this 1957 Lincoln Premiere-aping kiddie car for sale on Hemmings.com appears to have been lovingly restored. Unlike the Fury Junior, the story on this Premiere remains incomplete. From the seller’s description:

Unique one-of-a-kind children’s car. This is an amazing (half-Size+) one-of-a- kind handcrafted all-aluminum body gas powered children’s car built in 1956-57. Resembles a 56-57 Lincoln Premiere. Same owner since 1966 (garaged kept). Rack and pinion steering and fully independent dual spring suspension with four wheel hydraulic drum brakes and parking brake. 10 hp Wisconsin 4-stroke motor with governor, centrifugal clutch and column shifter with forward, reverse, neutral transmission. 12 Volt fused system with electric starter, generator, fan, horn, fuel pump, brake, headlight, parking and taillights. Partially refurbished to as close to original as possible with upgraded electrical, paint, etc. Runs and drives great. Needs rewound generator armature, interior completion and some minor repairs. (not street legal). Measures 122 in. long, 44 in. wide with a 65-1/2 in. wheelbase and track of 37 in. Word handed down says the car could have been created to be displayed at the 1958 Worlds Fair in Brussels, Belgium ? Maker is unknown at this time and all inquiries have come up empty.

This past Saturday was the first of what promises to become an annual event, the Saab Fall Festival at New Salem Saab in Albany, New York. Also sponsored by the New England Saab Association and Goldwing Recycled Saab Parts, this show brought out more than 120 cars and 200 participants and spectators, and show cars ranged from an early 1960s two-stroke 96 to a 2010 9-5 Aero XWD.

There was plenty of eye candy for Saabophiles, and one of the most unusual pieces was noted Saab collector Arte Levy’s Saab ‘Turbo 006′ convertible junior: Its name could be interpreted as 900, upside down. This Finnish-built “kiddie car” was made in both coupe and convertible forms, and it was a rare and expensive plaything, as Arte’s paperwork notes.

Check out the très-80s rear louvers, which lift for access to the engine!

And the instrument panel and steering wheel, which are remarkably true-to-life…

I also enjoyed a stroll through the dealership showroom, where some of New Salem Saab’s 49 years of collected Saab books, advertising paperwork, models and other memorabilia were displayed.

There were two sporty Sonetts and two practical 96s on the showroom floor; the bright yellow 1973 Sonett III is in the process of being restored, while the pale yellow 1969 Sonett II V-4 was a beautiful restored example that has been driven just 66,100 miles.

The burgundy 1973 96 V-4 was a late example of this car that had belonged to New Salem Saab CEO Darryl Carl’s grandfather, and it was in fine fettle with 126,445 miles; adjacent to it was Huck Spaulding’s mind-blowing red 1967 96 in absolute time-warp condition, with a mere 654 miles on the odometer and the factory plastic still covering the seats. Hmmm, can you say driveReport?

Thanks to New Salem Saab and its partners for putting on a great celebration of all things Saab. Here’s to a bright future!